Bodyguard Duties
by Shiy
Summary: It is said that Zhao Yun was tasked to watch over Liu Bei's new wife, Lady Sun. Not, in fact, romance.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary:  
**"Liu Bei ... assigned Zhao Yun to watch the female bodyguards of Lady Sun." - _Zhao Yun Biezhuan  
"Liu's wife then was Lady Sun, Sun Quan's sister. Emboldened by her brother's power and influence, she and her militia often ran wild, breaking many laws. Liu Bei gave Zhao Yun the special authority to ... keep an eye on Lady Sun and her followers at the same time."  
_**Disclaimer:** DW, RTK and their various versions are not mine and no profit is being made...  
**Warnings:**Based more on the novel (TV drama series, to be specific) than Dynasty Warriors, you might see some differences.  
**Word Count:** 858

He really didn't know what to do with them.

He had seen the way she told off the generals of Wu and threatened them with execution. He had been grateful at the time, but that was before he realised he would be in their shoes.

_"Keep an eye on her." Liu Bei had instructed._

He was starting to suspect that he had misinterpreted the order as he stepped in to stop one of the handmaidens from lobbing off the head of an unfortunate passer-by who almost walked into the Wu Princess. He'd assumed he meant for him to protect his new wife, but it was starting to seem like the citizens are the ones needing the protection. Honestly, which lady takes a walk on a peaceful street with armed and trained handmaidens and still need protection?

"General Zhao, are you defying me?" The lady has quite a glare.

"I am very sorry for my impudence, but I simply could not allow that..."

As he inadvertently found himself in a familiar 'argument' about how Shu does things differently from Wu, he once again recalled the moment he received the order.

_"I'm counting on you." His lord had ended with a warm smile._

_---_

"And I actually smiled back," He kicked at the earth grumpily. "I'm such a sucker."

The strategist of Shu only chuckled into his scrolls while Zhang Fei heartily thumped him on the back, and he flinched slightly despite having braced himself. The general was already half-drunk. Any moment now, the strategist was going to suggest, in the tone that meant it was really an order, that he kindly escort the general back, please.

"So she's yer type eh?"

"NO!" the younger general retorted heatedly as the laughter behind the desk grew louder. "I was not referring to the lady!" He wasn't sure if it was because he was intoxicated that he could so cheerfully suggest that he had designs on their lord's wife, because it was always hard to tell with Zhang Fei. He only hoped that he wouldn't remember any of this when he's sobered.

"That's right." The thus far quiet man in the room supplied solemnly except for his very amused smile, finally glancing up from his scrolls. "Zilong was referring to our lord."

Zhang Fei blinked owlishly.

"Means Big Brother's yer—"

"NO!" he repeated again with increasing anguish and put his head in his hands. He wished the strategist would stop laughing.

Zhang Fei thankfully appeared to have lost his train of thought at the interruption and had transferred his attention.

"What'cha laughin' about?"

"You're drunk." Zhao Yun stood quickly, taking the inebriated man's arm. He decided to save the strategist the trouble of dismissing them. "He's drunk." He repeated to the strategist, having realised his mistake as the bigger man started ranting about how he was NOT. "We'll take our leave now. Sorry to have disturb you. I wish you an early night."

The strategist was actually laughing so much he couldn't respond with the customary formalities and compensated by waving them off with his feather fan.

Zhao Yun made a mental note to never be caught alone with an overtly cheerful Zhuge Liang and a drunk Zhang Fei again.

---

"Do you think... I should get someone else for the job?" Liu Bei mused, peering out of a window into the garden where Zhao Yun was breaking up a fight between his men and the Wu handmaidens.

"Oh?" Zhuge Liang prompted mildly.

"Yes... I mean... It's just that I feel... bad about it, sometimes." His prized general was starting to look ill at ease as the women kind of surrounded him.

Even without looking, the strategist could hear the beginning of the sounds of the authoritative voice of the lady. Slowly fanning himself, he responded. "And who does my lord have in mind?" When he did not answer, he continued. "General Yunchang?"

"You're kidding. Yunchang will be affronted. And that'll be an understatement."

"General Yide?" He leisurely refilled both their cups.

Liu Bei heaved a great sigh. "Do you think I would dare to leave the two of them alone?" Below them, Zhao Yun stood silent and humble against what appeared to be a rather exciting tirade.

"General Guan Ping? Or perhaps General Liu Feng?" The tea tasted fine, if a little cold. He motioned for a servant to replace it.

"They can't possibly have any sort of rein on her. She'd totally overwhelm them." The lord shook his head as his wife suddenly struck out with a sword, but missed.

"General--"

"Oh all right. There's no one else." The unarmed general appeared to be trying to reason with the lady while dodging. The handmaidens looked like they would join in and help their mistress any moment. "I guess there's no helping it."

The strategist smiled in amusement as he watched his lord winced in sympathy and shook his head once more before returning to his seat.

_"It's not that I don't want to help you,"_ The strategist mused, picking up his fan again. _"but that this is a helpless situation. Bless you, Zilong, your valiant sacrifice will be remembered."_

-end-

**Start: **5 Dec 05  
**End:** 6 Dec 05


	2. Chapter 2

Zhao Yun had great faith in the strategist. Anybody who's seen him work his magic had to.

But sometimes, he had his doubts.

_"You wish to be relieved of the duty of watching over Lady Sun?" _

He cringed. It was just like the other man to point out succinctly when he had just spent the past fifteen minutes trying to be discreet about the fact that he was currently attempting to shirk his duty.

"That is simple, actually."

Maybe it was a joke, he decided. It was rare for the strategist to contribute help so readily to anyone who isn't Liu Bei (and that's only during emergencies or on his better days) after all, least of all private matters, which the strategist has something of an unspoken rule against getting involved in.

_"Ah, but this isn't quite a 'private' matter, so to speak." It was unsettling how the other man seemed to be able to read minds, no matter how many times he's seen it. "It can, in fact, affect the entire army." The strategist finished gravely._

He had been overwhelmed by the idea at the time, but now that he had time to think about it, he had to wonder. If it were that important, couldn't he, the army strategist, have just proposed to their lord to remove him from duty?

No, he had to suggest he pretend to seduce his lord's wife.

After all, which man will allow another to remain close to his wife if he knew there was a chance of adultery?

That was the strategist's logic, and that meant it was automatically infallible. But even if it were infallible logic, it didn't mean it had his well being in mind. For one, if he tried that and it worked, watching Lady Sun and her followers might not be the only duty he was going to be removed for. And then even if his lord didn't kill him first, his over-protective and hotheaded brothers would. And no one would be able to stop them from having his head and asking questions later.

He had expressed his concerns to the strategist, who only stared at him with a big smile for a moment, before replying apparently irrelevantly,

_"You really are a far-sighted person, General."_

And then he'd claim to have a meeting to attend and left _laughing_. Really, talking to the strategist is a very exasperating matter. After much consideration, he deduced it was his way of saying he worried too much and that he considered it as likely as Cao Cao agreeing to surrender to Liu Bei. He wished he shared his confidence.

It wasn't that he was afraid of death, of course. But dying on the battlefield is one thing and getting killed for suspected adultery is another. It has to do with reputation and all that important stuff.

Once his thoughts came to this, he would decide he would persevere; consider this a trial.

But then, he would feel bad about having asked the strategist for help and then basically pretending it never happened. It is so impolite.

And this is where everything will go back to square one.

**Omake**

"Zilong seems to have a lot on his mind lately."

"Indeed."

"I wonder what is troubling him."

"I wonder."

"You mean you don't know?"

"So you _were_ fishing for information."

"Well... I... have to care for my generals, of course."

"Of course."

"... Oh, yes. He did come to speak to me before."

"About his troubles?"

"Yes. I believe so, yes."

"So what's worrying him?"

"Well... to tell the truth, I've forgotten. I only recall it having happened because it had been more entertaining than important."

"Ah. Zilong does worry about the slightest things sometimes."

"Indeed."

-end-

**Start:** 7 Dec 05  
**End:** 7 Dec 05


End file.
